Jaycees seek nominees for service award
By Matthew Whittle
Published in News on December 21, 2006 1:45 PM
The Mount Olive Jaycees are looking for nominees for its 2006 Distinguished Service Award.
The award, which will be given at the Mount Olive Area Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet/Mount Olive Jaycees Distinguished Service Award Banquet in February, honors the town or surrounding county resident who has made a significant contribution to Mount Olive in the last year.
"It's an award to recognize someone who has given of their time and energy to the community," award committee chairwoman and previous recipient Julie Beck said. "We're looking to recognize individuals who probably don't want any recognition, but we just want to say thank you."
The award has been given out about 55 times, but whoever wins this year will be the first citizen recognized in two years.
"We chose to skip a year last year because we had so few nominations," Ms. Beck said.
It was the first time since the program began that nobody received the award.
They're hoping to get three to five nominations this year.
To qualify, nominees must be between 21 and 40 years old, live in Mount Olive or the surrounding community and have demonstrated exemplary qualities of leadership, particularly within the last year.
Nomination forms are available at the Mount Olive Tribune, the Mount Olive Area Chamber of Commerce and the Mount Olive College Student Development Office.
The winner will receive a plaque and an opportunity at being one of five North Carolina Jaycees Distinguished Service Award recipients.
This year will be the first time the award will be given out at a combined Mount Olive Chamber and Jaycees event.
The Jaycees are the Junior Chamber of Commerce -- a national service-based organization focused on developing personal and leadership skills in its members.
"The Jaycees is the Junior Chamber of Commerce and we have a number of Chamber members and board members who were Jaycees. One of them brought it to our attention that we might be nice partners," Mount Olive Area Chamber of Commerce President Gena Knode said. "The Jaycees and the Chamber have and still do work together on a number of community initiatives, such as the Christmas Open House and the Christmas Parade.
"This is to celebrate that and we hope this will be the first annual of many to come."
The banquet will be held at 7 p.m. on Feb. 8 at Mount Olive College.
The Jaycees also are taking nominations for:
* Boss of the Year -- awarded to a Jaycee employer who has provided outstanding service to the organization, his family, church, community and nation.
* Outstanding Teenager -- awarded to an area high school senior well-rounded in scholarship, leadership and community service and with a grade point average of 3.0 or higher.
* Outstanding Young Educator -- awarded to a teacher, 21- to 40-years old and teaching between kindergarten and 12th grade.
* Outstanding Young Farmer -- awarded to a farmer, 21- to 40-years old and showing progress in an agricultural career and implementing extensive soil and water conservation practices.
* Outstanding Young Public Servant -- awarded to a correctional officer, firefighter, law enforcement officer or rescuer 21 to 40 years old.
* Outstanding Senior Citizen -- awarded to those 60 years and older who have shown exemplary qualities of leadership during their lifetime.
Winners will be chosen by a selection committee that will include at least one person from outside Wayne County. Nominations are due by Jan. 22.
In addition, the Chamber will be giving its Chairman's Award to a member demonstrating outstanding community service in the last year.